Expediting its probe into the leakage of Eamcet-II medical question papers, Telangana Crime Investigation Department (CID) on Saturday arrested the kingpin Rajagopal Reddy. They also detained another suspect Iqbal from New Delhi for questioning. With this the number of total arrests in the case reached nine.
The fresh arrests came even as Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao indicated to the top officials that the Eamcet II will be null and void and fresh Eamcet-III will be held.
He reviewed the progress in the probe in a meeting with DGP Anurag Sharma and CID chief Satyanarayana last evening. The officials briefed him about the findings so far and assured him that all the culprits will be arrested within the next 48 hours.
On demand of a section of students that the Eamcet-II should not be scrapped, officials told the Chief Minister that if any student is given admission on the basis of the tainted test, it could be challenged in the court which will bring in trouble for the Government.
Sources said that the Chief Minister was exploring the possibility of conducting a fresh entrance test in the third week of August without charging any fees from the students. "The Government will also make free transportation arrangements to take the students to the examination centres", an official said.
CID chief Satyanarayana said that those arrested include a broker Shaikh Ramesh alias Raheem from Prakasham, who had played the role of a mediator by contacting students and collected Rs 12.5 lakh from them. "He had collected Rs 1.73 crore from 14 students in total and paid Rs 1.2 crore to another broker who had taken the students for coaching out of city"
Of the remaining amount, Ramesh deposited Rs 15 lakh in the bank account of another friend. "CID has seized Rs 37.5 lakh from him ", he added.
Preliminary investigation by the CID revealed that the two question papers were leaked and provided to 130 students who were taken to Mumbai, Pune and Bengaluru for coaching. Another group was trained in Hyderabad.The paper leak scam has brought the TRS Government in the line of fire from the Opposition parties as well as the student community.
The Osmania University Joint Action Committee has demanded the dismissal of the Health and Medical Education Minister lakshma Reddy and deputy Chief Minister Kadiam Srihari. The JAC members had organised a protest demonstration in the campus and burnt the effigies of the Ministers.
leader of Opposition in Telangana legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir said that the inefficiency of the TRS Government was responsible for the cancellation of the Eamcet. "Despite getting repeatedly censured by the court, the Government is not changing its style of functioning and the administration has gone out of control", he said.
